An economic system or practice where businesses form cartels (groups that control prices and production) to avoid competition.
From 'cartel' (from Italian cartello, originally meaning a written challenge or agreement, from Latin charta meaning 'paper') plus the suffix '-ism' (from Greek -ismos, indicating a practice or system).
Cartelism became common in industrial Europe when manufacturers realized that competing to lower prices hurt everyone—so they met in secret to fix prices, a practice that's now illegal in most countries because it harms consumers.
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